"moving" a house

[Mace]

Not moving all of the stuff that's in it, but physically picking up a house and moving it...

I have an option to buy an acre for a very good price that has a house that was moved on to it and never built on. The house is approximately 4K sq feet and currently in two pieces. the structure looks good but there will be a lot of drywall work to get it back up and functional.

My question centers around would it be reasonable to try to get the house back on a foundation and how the heck would I do that?

Anyone happen to have experience with actually moving whole houses?? I can't for the life of me find any place in Vegas that covers this sort of thing lol.

 

[rutbeer]

What's the house sitting on now? The easiest thing to do is to get it level, aligned, and then build a crawl space up underneath it. Typically the house movers are involved with that, but it sounds like their "trailer" is long gone. When you say "reasonable" I can assume that you are referring to the cost centered around that and not feasibility. Can't really accurately speak to that, as those costs vary per region. I would guess you could get a crawl in the $5k-10k range though. A lot of that depends on number of piers, main level square footage, soil condition, lot slope, etc. Too many variables to nail down a price without knowing all of that.

 

[Mace]

House is currently sitting on steel I-beams and rail road ties. No wheels anywhere.

The crawl space is atypical for construction in Vegas. The foundation will be by post tension slab.

So, the way I see it is we have to measure the current structure to get accurate dimensions for the slab and sewage/gas/water lines and then put the house on wheels and roll it over.

If it was not a freaking house it would not be tough at all lol.

Where is Dorothy when you need her.

 

[bkfj40]

I've worked on a few projects that have involved either moving a house onto the property, off the property, or putting a basement below them....

I would imagine that most of the houses around your area are slabs on grade or are they on crawlspaces?

A crawlspace with setting the house ran $22,000 here...then there was the work to get the house back in order. I would think that $40k - $50k would be expected.

Most house movers are regional...the blue book shows these:

Building Movers - Nevada - Las Vegas - www.thebluebook.com

...edit....

some more posts came in while I was earning a living...my post still may help - I realize you would do a crawlspace.

 

[bkfj40]

some of the times on a project when a house needs to be moved, you can buy the house for a dollar as long as you pay for the move. It doesn't make much difference if you move it a foot or a few miles, the cost is in the preparation and the final resting spot.

 

[Mace]

40 to 50K after the cost of the house would make me very happy..

Thanks for the sources for buisneses that could help!

Prep is already done. The house just needs to be picked up and physically moved to it's final resting place on the property.

 

[wob]

Not moving all of the stuff that's in it, but physically picking up a house and moving it...

I have an option to buy an acre for a very good price that has a house that was moved on to it and never built on. The house is approximately 4K sq feet and currently in two pieces. the structure looks good but there will be a lot of drywall work to get it back up and functional.

My question centers around would it be reasonable to try to get the house back on a foundation and how the heck would I do that?

Anyone happen to have experience with actually moving whole houses?? I can't for the life of me find any place in Vegas that covers this sort of thing lol.

Years ago my old man bought the house my mom grew up in, literally had it cut in three parts with a chainsaws, took it off of the foundation, loaded it up on trailers, and moved it to a lot he had at the lake. Before it got put back together, lightning hit one part of it, and it burned. The other two pieces were put on a new foundation, and reconnected. Obviously, some drywall had to be redone, but otherwise, everything else was ok for the most part.*

There are companies out there that do this. I think the biggest obstacle is height** and powerlines. If you have to drop a lot of those, it's hard to get permits, and expensive.
























*it was not a mobile home
**not mine - short joke preemption.

 

[lowenbrau]

House is currently sitting on steel I-beams and rail road ties. No wheels anywhere.

The crawl space is atypical for construction in Vegas. The foundation will be by post tension slab.

So, the way I see it is we have to measure the current structure to get accurate dimensions for the slab and sewage/gas/water lines and then put the house on wheels and roll it over.

If it was not a freaking house it would not be tough at all lol.

Where is Dorothy when you need her.

The house movers will throw dolly sunder the beams and move it onto the foundation, where it is.

I'm pretty sure you meant slab-on-grade. I've never heard of a residential post tension slab and post tension of any description ( high rise generally) has kinda gone out of style ( around here anyway)

My dad had a relative in the house moving business 50 years ago. He'd come into the house, tell the owner to lay down anything fragile, like the stemware, but not to pack anything up. On the day of the move he'd sign the contract on the kitchen table and place a half full glass of water on it and the owner's cheque. If the contract or cheque was wet when the house landed on it's new foundation, he'd rip them both up. Some of those moves were over hundreds of miles at highway speeds.

 

[Mace]

The house movers will throw dolly sunder the beams and move it onto the foundation, where it is.

Yeppers, but finding someone to do that is getting tough. The damn house only has to be moved a couple hundred feet at most.

I'm pretty sure you meant slab-on-grade. I've never heard of a residential post tension slab and post tension of any description ( high rise generally) has kinda gone out of style ( around here anyway)

It will be slab-on-grade, but post tension as well. Due to expansive clays and a high potential for subsidence over time, it just makes sense. My current house (2002 build) is post tension. And as far as I know, it's a requirement in Las vegas for resedential construction.

My dad had a relative in the house moving business 50 years ago. He'd come into the house, tell the owner to lay down anything fragile, like the stemware, but not to pack anything up. On the day of the move he'd sign the contract on the kitchen table and place a half full glass of water on it and the owner's cheque. If the contract or cheque was wet when the house landed on it's new foundation, he'd rip them both up. Some of those moves were over hundreds of miles at highway speeds.

Neat story, I can't even do that with my camper.


BTW, this house does not currently even have a floor in it

 

[D'Animal]

Dinuba House Movers is a local company over here that moves houses. Give them a call since I'm sure they would love to come to Las Vegas for a weekend.

 

[Mace]

Gave em a call to see whats available. Thanks Dan!

 

[bkfj40]

how many hookers can you get for moving a house?

just make sure you don't pay them before they move it

 

[mudlover]

Other costs

Keep in mind the local zoning may dictate if the house meets their guidelines, even if it was in the same juristiction the fact that you are doing a major remodel may trigger newer laws. Also your systems like elec, heating, plumbing may be out of code. They may require you to bring this up to current code including insulation etc. Often this will depend on the whims of your local inspector so start shmoozing.
I distribute some building materials that you might use.
Ronny Gabrieloff
greenbizco@yahoo.com

 

[Mace]

I'll keep you in mind.
Thanks!